Shinigami vs Demon: Akiko vs Echo
Who are you? The red haired girl was laying back on the roof, not a care in the world. She had just grown stronger thanks to a strange man in wearing a hat and clogs. She yawned as she got up and decided it was time to turn in. A muscular young man with jet black hair appeared from a portal in the sky, dropping gracefully onto a roof parallel from the girl's. He had a completely expressionless face, but his fearsome eyes strangely let out a vibe of sadness. He opened a briefcase he was holding and pulled out several scrolls and an ink-tipped feather pen, beginning to do what he always did to clear his mind, writing poetry. He sat down and breathed deeply as the wind swayed his hair, writing melodiously in conjunction with the breeze. Akiko shuddered for a minute. "What's this feeling I'm getting?" His eyes reflected his inner sorrow despite his calm expression. "Why must my happiness always be cut off by tragedy." He muttered to himself, lighting the scrolls with incense, each one written for someone who couldn't return love. He closed his eyes and turned away from the flames, almost falling off the roof upon suddenly seeing a shinigami girl about his age. He tilted his head. "Hello." Akiko returned to look at the person. "Hello. Who are you?" "Echo, is my name, may I ask yours?" Said Echo, lost in his thoughts. "I am Akiko Amaya." He came out of his daze and sat beside her. "Do you usually hang out on roofs?" "Usually." Akiko replied, staring up at the sky her sword in her hand. "But only at night. The moon has a calming effect on me." He lifted his head towards the huge planetoid, his already glowing eyes now in amazing radiation. "It does have a spell of its own." "I prefer the night to the day actually." Akiko said as she began to walk on air as if on an invisible platform. "I'm stronger at night than during the day." "Impressive." He said as he observed. "Thanks." Akiko replied and looked at him. "You're kinda cute!" She said smiling. His eye twitched. It felt strange to hear a compliment from a girl that wasn't an adulturess/demon, bringing that up caused a sharp pain to his heart, that was just reawakening. "You're quite beautiful yourself..." He trailed off. "But you shouldn't let appearances fool you, everyone I care for seems to die or reject me." He shook off his sadness and looked for an opening to another conversation. "Anyways..." "Thanks." Akiko said. "But you don't seem so bad." He titled his head. "That's why I said not to let appearances fool you." Lately he seemed to be taking a liking to more people than usual, and it was defeating the purpose of his neglegence of emotions. "Because in my opinion, you seem to be quite dangerous yourself, something I find very appealling, but then again I know nothing about you, do I?" He swore he would slap himself later, he had began to flirt. Akiko giggled. "I am very dangerous." She put a thumb to the guard on her blade and it came out of the sheath slightly. "Would you like to find out just how dangerous I am? He opened his overcoat and tapped on the hilt of his own sword and smiled ever so slightly. "Look's like I was right after all, lucky me." "If I win, you go out on a date with me!" She said drawing her sword. "What's my motivation to win then?" He was doing it again. "How about if I win, you have to help me find a time traveller, and no questions about why just yet." "O.K." Akiko said. "But I'm gonna win!" He slowly slid his katana out of its sheathe. "If that's so, then prepare yourself." Akiko pointed her finger at Echo. "Hadō 1, Shō!" He raised his fist as his corruptive energy dispersed the spell, creating a large gale. He flipped forwards, slamming each of his fingers into the tile of the roof upon landing. A grid like pattern of energy began to root out from the penetration point, soon entirely covering the building. He stood up and folded his arms, waiting. A moment later, the roof's eerie aura manifested in the forms of several ancient demon spirits, each one emitting thousands of moans and cries for help. They began to encirle Akiko, ready to feed. Akiko immediately jumped up into the air. High. Very High. She extended both hands. "Hadō 88, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!" Akiko cried expelling a lvery large and wide mass of electricity from her hands all aimed at the spirits. The spirits seemed to feign at first, but suddenly the electricity blackened and glowed with a shimmering shade of evil green. The spirits now radiated with electrostatic aura, and multiplied, now about twenty in number, all circling Akiko rapidly until they seemed like a circular wave of energy. Echo swiped his hair out of his eyes. "Take much consideration in every step when battling these beings." "What are these things Echo-chan?" Akiko asked. "It's difficult to explain, but my soul is in union with an ancient being of pure evil known as Kaosu, which is composed of an innumberable amount of immortal demon-like creatures, each a god in their own right. My abilities allow me to bend their energy to my will and create my own spiritual minions." He made a gesture with his hand and they all stopped, staring at Akiko, waiting for the right bloodthirsty command. "I'll give you a clue, they can't be killed, just momentarily destroyed, the key is to bind them with your abilities, and you will be victorius," "Bind eh?" Akiko muttered. "I'm not quite sure this will work but it's better than nothing." Akiko curved her two middle finger's and stuck her indexes through them. "Walls of ironsand, a priestly pagoda, glowing ironclad fireflies. Standing upright, silent to the end. Bakudō number 75, Gochūtekkan!" Five steel pillars came down a pinned Echo to the ground. He grunted. "Not me!" He waited as the spirits rushed over and all were absorbed by him. He used his new temporary strength to rip out of the pillars. His eyes were widened. "My apologies for underestimating you." "Apology accepted." Akiko replied. "And I thought that if I disturbed your concentration the spirits might disappear." "You're quite adept at Kido, I must say." He took a step and seemingly appeared in front of her. "My body actually rejects Kido, because my spirit energy is a familiar substance, an ancient mystical force." He slid out his dangerously ridged zanpakuto, Kaosu, and its black surface began to radiate with a green ancient text. "But it's no matter, I prefer to get things done this way anyways." "Tessai trained me to use Kido." Akiko said. "I can perform many high level Kido spells before tiring myself out. My Zanpakuto is even a Kido type.". "I see, that must be where the dangerousness comes in." Replied Echo, glancing at her sword. "Yeah." Akiko replied, grinning cutely. "But I won't release it unless you force me to. I'm more than capable of brining most opponent's down with Kido alone." Her hand began to glow black. "I'm gonna regret this..." "Hadō 90, Kurohitsugi!" A black box of spiritual pressure surrounded echo, and multiple spears of energy pierced said box. He flinched as a spear pierced his shoulder, but held two fingers up through the pain. A tiny wisp of energy shot into the spell, rapidly corrupting it until he could disperse it. "My turn." he pulled a coin out of his overcoat pocket, dropping it into the corrupted ground. It somehow phased through, reappearing behind Akiko and shooting up from the roof to pierce through her leg. Akiko hissed, but did not scream. "What the hell was that?" She thought. She extended her hand. "Hadō 13, Kira-Bachi!" Small golden bullet's were expelled from Akiko's finger's aiming at Echo, her intent to pierce him. His body flickered as the bullets seemingly phazed through him. He pointed two fingers at Akiko. "Shroud thee in thy might." Suddenly a mach speed blast of wisp-like energy shot at Akiko's forehead with no intent to leave any life behind. Akiko unsheathed her sword. "Make him bleed, Hitokage!" she cried as her spiritual pressure rose drastically but her apperance didn't change. She cut herself and thrust her sword in front of her and a red shield erupted in front of her as the bullet's made contact. They dissapated but the shield shattered as well. "Pity I used that technique without calling it's name." Akiko thought. "What do you think Echo-chan? Pretty useful, no?" "Using your own blood as a defensive weapon, it's beautiful." His eyes reflected the sparkling scarlet mist that blanketed the sky before evaporating. Akiko's face blushed deep crimson. "Do you mean me or the technique?" She asked. "Must I choose?..." He was lost deep in her eyes, as if nothing else existed. He blinked and snapped out of his trance. "I'm sorry...I got a bit carried away." He had to rub his eyes to prevent from going back into a daze. Akiko giggled as she sliced her other arm, the previous arm having healed. "Try this one!" She swung his blade in a gigantic sweeping motion, expelling a large crimson crescent from her blade. He sidestepped most of the blast but still received a slice in the shoulder from being off guard. He tossed off his overcoat, the slice on his muscular arm quite large. "Cheap shot." He whirled around with his sword corrupting and draining the reitatsu from the atmosphere, giving his sword a large aura. He seemingly took a single step and appeared before her, his sword a few feet from her throat. He waited to retaliate from her next move. "Hmmm what to do?" Akiko thought. "Wait I know!" And She disappeared and reappeared behind Echo. "Hey Echo-chan, up for a game of tag?" "Tag?" Echo looked over his shoulder before backflipping, winking as their eyes met in mid air before landing behind her. "Sure you can keep up?" He challenged. "I'm sure I can." Akiko replied. "I was trained in the art of Flash Step by Yuroichi. I'm fast and deadly." He raised an eyebrow. "You keep sounding more and more like me, very well then." He leaped towards her but suddenly appeared right above her head instead, flying downwards in a lethal kick attempt. Akiko disappeared and a blast of red spiritual energy made contact with Echo's back. He closed his eyes to keep from wincing, but pin pointed her from the attack and blasted her in the arm with a black wisp, grounding her. He used the wisp's influence to push her helplessly through several walls, lunging after her leaving his own trail of blood. Akiko stood up, bleeding a bit. "What was that?" She wondered. "Well no time to fret about it now. It's my fault I didn't use Utsusemi in time." She disappeared and reappeared in front of Echo and her leg connected with his neck. He bent back far enough to avoid lethal injury but lost his breath momentarily. He stood up and popped his neck clenching his fists tightly in pain. " His eyes suddenly widened a bit. "Not good, it seems you've injured me enough for Kaosu's seal to loosen." Three green seals appeared around him him, the outermost disappearing and more than half of the markings on Echo's blade as well. Suddenly, dark whispers could be heard all around. He held his sword out. "Bring forth my subjects, Kaosu." "Is this Shikai?" Akane thought watching the phenomenon. Ancient energy shrouded the entire area in a haze of power. "This, Akiko-chan, is my version of the Shikai release." Said Echo, dark whispers now repeating his words. Akiko was unaffected by the energy and acted as she had been for the most part. "I see." Akiko replied grinning. "Then this'll be fun. You see I liek to fight strong opponents." "You'll soon see that I also love to fight worthier opponents. In other words, we're about to get exactly what we want." He said, tensing as energy flooded from his eyes. "Now it's time to up the ante!" Akiko cried. "Hadō 54, Haien!" She sent a blast of purple spiritual energy at Echo. "Please Akiko-chan, don't insult me." He sliced at the air, corrupting it and creating a flying creature of the ancients to swallow the attack and explode in an energy radiation when reaching Akiko. "You see, my release allows me to corrupt any essensce and create a minion out of it." But Akiko was on the move and it looked like 1,000 Akiko's were running around.. "You release doesn't suit you Echo-chan." The Akiko's said. "At least not from what i can see." "Maybe you're right but that's not my choice, is it?" He frowned. "True." Akiko replied. "I guess I can deal. "Let's try this one! Hadō 63, Sōren Sōkatsui!" She expelled two massive shots of blue fire from her hands, aimed at Echo's back. Echo turned around and sliced the fire, converting it into a monstrous blue dragon-like demon. "Anything containing spirit energy is subject to my control." It charged at her, filled with bloodlust. Akiko laughed, a high cold laugh that didn't suit her. She slashed her neck and and swung her sword at the dragon. "Gyakuten!" The Dragon turned around and headed for Echo. "My reversal technique." Echo held his arm out and absorbed the dragon, creating large blue waves of flame around him. He stepped towards Akiko, but not close to burn her. "Akiko-chan, stay in control, don't let your bloodlust take dominance. Believe me, it's not worth it." His eyes showed signs of worry for the first time in a while. "If you wish, I will forfeit, but I cannot bear to see you this out of character. Whether you feel the or not, I'm beginning to care about you." Akiko blushed crimson. "Sorry about the laugh. I just wanted to see what it would sound like. And don't forfeit," She whined. "The fight's just getting fun." He hesitated, taking in her words before falling over, actually laughing. "Are you kidding me? You faked an evil laugh?" He stood back up, sighing to end his laugh. "Oh my God you're crazy." He put his hands together then sent their connected palms to point at Akiko, sending a wave if blue flames that now began to corrupt green and black. "I like crazy." "Then I'm for you." Akiko replied as she moved out of the way of the oncoming flames. "Obviously." He responded, making a gesture behind her as his sword ripped through her shoulder from behind, revealling that the flames had concealed it. "And I won't lie, I did enjoy your reversal technique." "Thank you." Came a voice from behind Echo. Instead of the sword stabbing her it had only stabbed her shirt which was now hanging on Echo's sword as Akiko's sword was thrust through Echo's stomach. He winced and spit out some blood. He suddenly grabbed the back of her head, slamming her face into the back of his head, letting her drop helplessly afterwards. He slid her sword out of him, undergoing his excruciating healing process. "Very risky move, but you pulled it off." "I meant to try it earlier but didn't manage it in time." "It still caught me off guard, but what can I say, you just have a way of getting to me." Echo replied, grabbing his sword. Akiko grinned as she took her shirt back and put it on. "I'll take that as a compliment." She said as she began to glow pink and crimson. "Please do, but I think it's time to end this." He glowed in black reitatsu, outlined in green. "Alright! But I'll win, so I can go on a date with you." Akiko replied as she slashed her right arm and reishi exploded around her sword. He pointed his blade at her and began to charge. Akiko charged as well leaving behind a after-image of Spiritual Pressure. "I won't lose." Echo paced himself, beginning to accel past the speed of matter and losing traction. He swiped unnoticeably as he passed. Akiko slashed her sword as well and the result was them both coughing up blood. "I lost?" She thought. Echo rolled over, regaining his composure, he was actually hoping to see one of her blood techniques one more time, they fascinated him. "...So what does this mean?" "I won't lose." Akiko muttered slashing her midsection and the sword soaked in it's blood. She slashed her sword in a downward cutting motion and cried, "Hijin Ketsusō!" Instantly multiple small red crescents were expelled from the blade. "Is there anything wrong with you..." He sighed with affection before waking up to see the blasts heading towards him. He jolted in alarm, having a split second to react. He sliced at the air in front of him with all of his might, creating a massive guardian demon, but it didn't form in time and in such created a large explosion that engulfed them both. Akiko screamed, not having expected this. "Damn..." Echo was blown backwards in the destruction, his body flying limply through the air and leaving a trail of smoke. He regained his awareness barely and by struggling pushed off a wall, awkwardly landing on a rooftop. "Akiko-chan...?" He glared through the smoke. Akiko was sitting in the air bruised and battered and her spiritual pressure had dropped. "I guess we can call this a draw, Echo-chan?" His eyes widened. "You put me through hell to win and now you call it a draw...Whatever, you're right, we're both pretty injured." He stood up warily. "I had fun, your techniques are amazing." "I had fun too. And thanks." Akiko replied her face crimson again. "You're alot stronger than I expected." She walked slowly over to him, a smile on her face, and gave him a quick kiss. "Since it was a draw, that we means we both can get what we want riiiight?" He smiled despite almost faling over out of a mix of pain and surprise. "Yes we can." Akiko smiled in delight. "Yay!!! My request get's first priority." She replied. grinning. "No arguments here." He sighed with relief. Akiko smiled again as all of her self-inflicted wounds began to heal. "I think I'm falling for you." She said staring at the now rising sun. Echo felt so weak on the inside, yet better than he'd ever felt in his life before "...I'm not very good at saying this kind of thing, but I think I'm falling for you too. When we're fighting, even when your mutlilating me, it just feels so right. In every way and aspect, you're perfect...See I sound stupid, but I have to say it because even though I've only known you for a short time, I couldn't imagine not being with you." He had to look away so she couldn't see how embarrassed he looked. "That's so sweet. But slightly crazy." Akiko replied her face blushing crimson. She grabbed Echo's hand and kissed him again. Echo was still bright red, but he built up his courage and squeezed her hand affectionately. "I like crazy." He repeated his earlier words. "Then I'm for you." Akiko whispered in reply. He held her gently, not ever wanting the moment to pass. It was true, he had failed. He opened up to another person, breaking his oath to remain secluded. But he didn't care, he couldn't stay lonely forever, risks had to be taken, and he was willing to face anything with Akiko. Besides, he didn't have to worry about anything happening to her, more than likely worrying about those unlucky enough to get on her bad side. Echo Uchiha 04:38, 6 August 2009 (UTC)